this is my friend...

You remember her...the one who so lovingly met with me for coffee every other week to hear about my woes and throes of changing a career and returning to the same one. Many a latte on that topic. The one who inspires with her love for words and beautiful things in daily life like napkins, and journals, and planning teas. The one who loves Michigan lake towns as much as I do and could spend a day being charmed by Petoskey or Saugatuck or St. Joe any day of the week.

And that is exactly what we did last week when she was in town for Christmas. We squeezed the whole equation of time from the fall into one long day where we had no plans but to enjoy. So after a simple brunch at my house, we made our way to JP's for hours of conversation and people sighting...including our good friend Kate, who just so happens to be one of Christina's other closest friends. And we had to document that of course:


The rest of our day was spent window shopping, laughing, reflecting and just simply enjoying being together in one of our favorite little down towns. Thank you Christina, for the life your friendship continues to give me, even now that you have followed God's call to North Carolina. so blessed.

Christmas: the aftermath

The presents are opened, the goodies eaten and eaten some more, the miles traveled and the carols sung. And I am at home, exactly where I love to be. I am going to leave my tree up until New Year's day to enjoy the light of it in the mornings when it is still dark and too early to turn the rest of the lights on.

It is going to be a busy week of work but a slow week of evenings at home to continue the rest following the wake of Christmas. This year's Christmas Eve was especially sweet as my brother Erich wrote a poem 4 pages long, chronicalling every step of our annual evening together as a family. Christmas day and yesterday were full of more parties and the older we get, the more grateful I am for the gifts we recieve and time with those we love.

All of that said, I am ready to return to quiet winter days and enjoying our little home and time with Ryan while he is on his semester break until January 12 (which happens to be his 27th b-day!). We are headed out on Friday to PASSION: TWENTY TEN in Atlanta with 50 college students from Grand Valley as leaders with some good friends of ours. I am so looking forward to a few days full of being with students and from what I am learning, Passion is all about encouraging college students to live out their faith so there will be thousands and thousands of young people who are part of campus ministry in their universities represented there.

On top of that, I simply cannot wait to hear and be challenged by people like Francis Chan (author of Crazy Love), Beth Moore, John Piper, and participate in worship led by David Crowder Band, Matt Redman, Christy Nockels, Chris Tomlin...the list goes on. Feeling really blessed to have this opportunity and looking forward to the time away.

it's my favorite day of the year

no competition. This day is it. As I have gotten older, our annual traditions have not changed but my emotions around them have deepened. I believe as a child and even a teenager, that I experienced a very real joy around Christmas and sensed and sacredness of lighting the candles and reading Luke 2.
Now as I am comfortably into my 20s, I know that every year with my grandparents is a gift and that the traditions that my family carries on are unique and all ours. It gets so easy to get lost in gifts and lists and plans the older we get but today I won't let the adult in me steal my childlike wonder.

But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

"Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men
on whom his favor rests."
-Luke 2:10-14

Thoughts on Having a Party

The candles are lit, the pie is baking in the oven, the floor still needs to be swept and the junk hidden from the kitchen counter. You all know that chaos that occurs in the precious 45 minutes before a party begins when all of those little “to do’s” need to be done NOW. I have a love/hate relationship with that part of party planning but really more of a love.

We had a dinner party (that sounds so grown up and I love saying it) for our small group at our house Thursday night and I realized how good it felt to entertain. I have taken a break from it in the past 6 months or so and enjoyed every part from choosing the candles and place settings to stacking the dishes and soaking the pans. I truly meant it when people were starting to clean and I told them not to worry about it because I wanted us all to have time to just sit and talk! There was a little post party regret, admittedly when it took me until this morning to get on top of those dishes.

But I still think it was worth it, to have friends around our table laughing and telling stories. And I think entertaining is like anything else, the more you do it, the more at home you feel doing it. I have learned that I enjoy the party a lot more if I make it easy on myself with a simple menu and allowing others to bring things which saves me time in the kitchen and helps with the cost. So I made loaded baked potato soup in my Pampered Chef covered baker which can be done all in the microwave, amazing really. Others brought appetizers (Kelsey's bacon wrapped weenies are to die for), salad and bread and there you have it, a holiday meal.

a weekend away

All of my Nervous Nelly weather checking paid off as I cruised my way down clear highways and over the skyway Friday night to see "The CITY", you know, Chicago! Emily and I planned a somewhat impromptu weekend of just hanging out. And although I could only stay for about 24 hours, each of those hours was rich with conversation, good rest, and great food.

Here is what we did besides chirp chirp chirp like little birds as Dennis likes to call us as we caught up on everything.

One of the things I love about visiting Emily is that she knows so much about the neighborhoods, which may come in handy if she ever takes my advice and pursues a career as a realtor. Friday night she took me to BITE where we drank some red wine (bring your own) over my Thai Green Curry with chicken and jasmine rice. Love it when there is enough bite to make my nose run because it reminds me of India. Then we went back to her casa and did all the things we like to do like lay on her bed and talk and fall asleep to HGTV in the background.

Saturday brought more goodness as we ventured out in our pjs to Milk & Honey where we snagged some good coffee and egg dishes...isn't it cute:

We didn't stay becuase we had a serious movie date with Julie & Julia. BON APPETIT. I loved that movie in the theater and can honestly say I loved it just as much this weekend in my pjs by the light of the Christmas tree.

The rest of the day flew by with a little run (haven't done enough of that lately, was feeling it for sure and may have to just continue because I missed it). Now that I think about it, that buzz hit me last time we visited Chicago. The day was capped off with a drive over to another neighborhood where we saw some really cute boutiques and enjoyed a late lunch at the Southport Cafe and continued to take bites off one anothers' plates becuase that is what we have done since our friendship began 8 years ago in Olson Hall. Some things never change.

counting through the day

Cups of hot chocolate: two
Handfuls of marshmallows for those cups: I lost count
Times I left the house today: once
Hours of Christmas music as background noise: 4
Christmas cards completed and stamped: 68, woo hoo! they are on their way!
Chance of additional snow to contribute to this blizzard: 100%
Current Temp: 14 but it feels like -2 degrees F. I am not making this up.

Times I checked weather.com today: atleast 15. I think I have a weather addiction because I lost count

hope you are enjoying these wintery days by staying cozy and warm!

corner's offering

Every month our church does something called our Corners Offering which is our response to God's call to care for the poor as they did in the times of the Old Testament by leaving the corners of their fields unharvested for the poor to harvest. Every Sunday, each person is asked to place just a $1 in the corner boxes & this Sunday a view was shown to convey the mission of December's corner offering, The Advent Conspiracy.

I was reminded of and challenged by the thought that so much of this season turns into stress, debt, busyness and how easy it is to reduce those things and bring back to the center worship & truly giving of our time and our resources. Check out this video to learn more about what his group is doing and the difference a little bit can make in getting water to people all over the world.

my friend's kids...

are simply wonderful. I can't put into words the emotion I have except to say that it is really meaningful to see my friends as moms and experience their process and journey as make that transition.

I won't say that it hasn't been hard, it has in the past year been a struggle for me to find my place between discussions about burp clothes and potty training. And I also can say that I know it will be a little while yet until we step into that phase of our lives so I will continue to struggle to find my place in those conversations.

But in the past week I have had several opportunities to sit with, hold and entertain their little ones and have been so blessed by their kiddos. The moments that I let go of trying to be in the secret society of motherhood and get over myself, I get lost in loving those moments. And I am really thankful because it feels good to let go and love my friends where they are at including loving their kids.

christmas open house!!

hi friends! If you are in the mood for some crafting and goodies, I am opening my house today from 11-2 for just that!

come visit to make ornaments, do some Christmas shopping or just for free hot chocolate :)

130 W. Main, Zeeland

instead of blogging...

I have been camped out with this guy, doing crafts all over my living room floor for multiple nights in a row.

and trimming our tree, setting up my Nativity in a new location and adding a little Christmas flair to every corner



and who could forget the late night bundled up walks with these guys down Christmas card lane to see all of the lights and decorations going up around the neighborhood?